Ghost Town
by Solar Beam
Summary: Katara finds herself in an enchanted town cursed to come alive every evening, and destroyed every morning. Her fate becomes interlocked with another's, but will they be able to escape before they find themselves apart of this cursed town forever?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them. If I owned them I would make so many twists, it isn't funny.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Action/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?

**A/N:** I was bored. Here it is. The Prologue. Not much to write. I kind of feel sick. Goody. Please review. - Solar Beam

* * *

**Prologue**

She lay there patiently, watching the sunset above her, the clouds passing beside her and above her, the birds fluttering beneath her. She lay there patiently, listening to the blind girl mock her brother. She lay there patiently, feeling the wind rush past her body. But then, it became quiet, and she became nervous. Why was it so quiet? She sat up and looked over to her brother. He was leaning over the side of the giant, fluffy beast, eyes narrowed. Her eyes traveled to the Avatar, who sat atop the beast's head looking down as well. "Aang, what's the matter?"

Aang pointed down and the girl moved to the edge of the giant saddle and she looked to where he was pointing. It wasn't hard to miss. Large flames licked the sky, and smoke rose like giant beacons. It was a small town, and it was lit with flames. The girl gulped. "Fire Nation," she breathed. The giant beast slowly descended from the air, slowly making its way toward the burning rubble. _Please let me be wrong,_ she thought. She didn't think she could handle it if it was Fire Nation.

When the bison landed, they all climbed off. The blind girl, the earth-bender, set her hand on the ground and listened. She was quiet for a long time, and finally she stood back up. "What do you feel, Toph?" Aang asked quietly, his eyes not leaving the smoke that billowed past the tree-tops.

Toph didn't answer for a long time, testing the ground with her feet. She shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead as if she had a headache. "Nothing, everything is dead. I see nothing; it's like its all dead." Her voice was quiet, painful almost. She didn't like how she couldn't see here.

"Katara, where are you going?" the brother called. Katara was walking past him, her eyes narrowed slightly. She heard someone humming, a lullaby it sounded like. She recognized it. Her mother used to sing it to her every night that she couldn't sleep. She kept walking, even though her friends called her back. She walked until she got to the edge of the town, and then the humming stopped.

Destruction. Death. Devastation. And smoke. Smoke was everywhere. The smell was terrible, it burned her throat and made her want to cry. Not because it was so strong, but because it was the smell of the deceased. She was stopped cold, her eyes wide. There, in the center of the town, was an old flagpole. Hanging from the flagpole, was a baby. Hung. Katara walked forward hesitatingly, without thinking. She reached the wooden flagpole and when her hand touched the cold wood, she fell to her knees and cried. She cried into her hands, one gripping the flagpole the other covering her face.

She could hear her friends calling her. She didn't care. The hand gripping the flagpole tightened, her nails digging into the timber. She cried harder. Now she knew why her brother hated the Fire Nation. They were destructive and they had no compassion for others. They were heartless.

And then it was dark. Everything became almost black and white, no color at all. It was like back at the North Pole when Admiral Jhao destroyed the moon spirit. She heard something snap. She stood slowly, turning in a circle, eyes wide in surprise. There, in front of her, stood a large city. Building high, each at least four stories high. It was quiet, but lanterns were lit and the fountain in between two buildings was bubbling. The forest surrounding the town was gone, and instead was replaced by water. Lots and lots of water.

"This isn't normal," she said allowed. And then doors opened, and people began walking outside as if their town wasn't destroyed. Food carts were set up, and music was playing. It was a festival. She backed up a ways until her back was against the flagpole. She looked up; the baby was gone. What surprised her most was that the people were almost transparent, as if they were there but weren't. It scared her while at the same time mesmerized her.

She walked forward. "Pardon me, miss…" The woman walked right through her, ignoring her completely. Katara froze. She padded her stomach curiously to make sure she was no see-through, and then she looked back to where the woman was going. That woman had just walked right through her; Katara blinked. This was too weird. She made her way toward where the trees had been, but when she got to the edge of the town she only saw water. No other land in sight. She set her hand on her forehead; she was stuck here. _No, no, no…_


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them. I do not own _Lullaby_ by the Dixie Chicks.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Action/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?

**A/N:** I love this chapter. I love it, love it, love it! I love it so much! I really do. Do you know why? Because one of mynew favorite songs isin it! Yay! Everyone cheer and clap and _be happy_! I just wanted to thank the people who reveiwed the prologue thus far in the story: willow tree angel, and sweetnevermore. Did I mention that I really liked this chapter? Oh, I did? Okay then, read it! Please review! Enjoy! - Solar Beam

* * *

**Chapter One:**

"Ma'am! Excuse me, miss? Hello, ma'am, can you help—? Sir, do you know where—?" Katara moaned angrily; people were walking right through her, as if they couldn't even see her! And she was irritated when they wouldn't even listen to her! It was as if she wasn't even there. She had been walking around the town for what seemed like hours, trying to get someone's attention. She had tried everything to waving in someone's face to trying to slap someone. No one felt anything, heard anything, or even gave her an inkling of an existence. The girl finally found herself sitting on the side of the water fountain, hands covering her face. She was tired, alone, and, as much as she hated to admit it even to herself, she was terrified.

And then there it was, as if like a sign telling her a warning. A soft lullaby wafted its way into her ears, sad and droning, calling to her as it had when she was pulled into the village in the first place. She started to hum along with the distant singer, her face still covered in her hands. The song came on stronger, and the song became more clear. Katara lifted her head slightly from her hands, wiping a stray tear from one eye as she listened. The voice was so familiar, but so remote. "M-mom?" She began to follow the voice, this time not minding where she walked. She walked through people, cats, dogs, not minding the voices that called to her. The song was calling to her.

"_They didn't have you where I come from  
Never knew the best was yet to come  
Life began when I saw your face  
And I hear your laugh like a serenade. _

How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough, is forever enough  
How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough  
Cause I'm never, never giving you up."

"Mom." She was sure of it now, as the voice got louder and louder. Her mother was here, in this large town that built itself up. How was it so? She didn't know. But her mother was here, calling to her. She found more and more that she was running into things…_solid_ things. But she really paid no attention to it. By that time her mind was nearly gone. Everything was getting fuzzy, and the only thought clear enough to remember was the statement that repeated over and over in her head. _Mom's here, she here. She's here and singing the lullaby. Mom's here, she's here. She's here and singing the lullaby. Mom's here…_

Katara couldn't remember why she wanted to leave the town anymore. Everything was so beautiful, so alive. Everyone was so nice, as they waved to her and called to her to ask how she was. She couldn't remember why she was crying by the fountain, and she couldn't remember where she was before she had come upon the town. Who was with her before? It was someone important. But she couldn't remember, she couldn't remember anything.

"_I slip in bed when you're asleep  
To hold you close and feel your breath on me  
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do  
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you. _

How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough, is forever enough  
How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough  
Cause I'm never, never giving you up."

"Mom, Mom keep singing. Keep singing, Mom, I'm coming."

She was walking down an empty street now, in between buildings. An alleyway was more like it. No doors on either side of her, a few dim lamps here and there, and the cobblestone beneath her feet was wet with something but Katara wasn't paying much attention to it. Her pace quickened. _Mom'shere,shehere.She'shereandsingingthelullaby._ The one clear statement in her fuzzy mind was going into a nuclear melt down, as the thought became quicker and more desperate in her mind. "Keep going," she told herself, trying to keep her mind away from completely shutting down on her, "Left foot, right foot, keep going!" Her pace quickened into a fast walk. She stopped, though, as she became to a fork in the street. On one road, it was dark and frightening, and on the other road it was bright and welcoming. Guess where the music was coming from? If you guessed the bright road, then you're wrong. Did Katara have a second thought of which road was better to take? If you said yes, then once more you are wrong.

She turned down the dark path, one hand pressed against the walls of the buildings on her right. It was dark; she couldn't see where she was going, so she was using the wall to guide her. Her hand slipped into something mucky and slimy, but she didn't even wince. By now, her mind was hardly working. The only thought in her mind clear enough to be read was the thought of her mother. She couldn't hear herself at all, she could only hear the intoxicating lullaby.

"_As you wander through this troubled world  
In search of all things beautiful  
You can close your eyes when you're miles away  
And hear my voice like a serenade. _

How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough, is forever enough  
How long do you want to be loved  
Is forever enough  
Cause I'm never, never giving you up."

Katara's hand fell on something hard and wooden. A door. She faced it, and looked down at the bright crack on the floor. Light was flooding outside from inside of the building, and the music was gone. Katara's hand lifted to the door, and two silent, mocking knocks were heard from inside the building. Slowly the door opened a crack, and light submerged the area surrounding Katara. Inside of the door, stood a young woman who looked to be in her early forties, perhaps late thirties. She had lovely, brown hair that flowed down to her mid-back with Water Tribe strands hanging in front of her face. Her eyes were those of Water Tribe blue, and her skin matched that of the nation as well. She was wearing, however, a brown and green dress. Earth Nation colors.

"Mom?" Katara breathed.

There was silence, and then the door quickly shut. Katara stood there in the alley, confused and alone. But then the sounds of locks unlocking came from inside the building and the door opened fully now. The woman looked at the girl in front of her, and she covered her mouth with her hand. She parted her fingers and one word came from her mouth that sent chills down Katara's spine. "Kattie?" That was the nickname that Katara's mother had given her when she was just a little girl. The woman covered her face with her hands, leaning against the door panel for support.

"Mom, I can't…I can't believe it. You're here, you're alive!" Katara said, running a hand over her head in disbelief. Her mind still clouded, she paid no attention to the man inside of the building.

Her mother stood there, leaning against the panel, her eyes wide as she studied her daughter in front of her. Katara had filled out since she had last seen her, and she was as lovely as her grandmother had been at that age. She felt like crying. Too bad she couldn't. Her mother's sad eyes hardened as she straightened herself up. "You shouldn't have come here, Kattie."

Katara stood there, outside, confused. "But why? I've always been here, where else would I be?"

Her mother stared at her for a long time and then she cursed. Katara's eyes widened; she had never heard her mother use such graphic words before. "Come inside, dear. Hurry, now." Katara stepped into the building, and as her mother began shutting the door, she did not miss how she looked both ways outside before doing so. What was wrong with her? Her mother motioned for her to sit, so she did. "Kattie, dear, have you eaten anything here in this town yet tonight? Have you…have you drank anything yet? The town's water, anything?"

Katara shook her head. "But speaking of which, Mom, I am rather hungry for some reason. It seems like its been years since I haven't seen you, or eaten food!"

Her mother swiped her hand down her face. "Kattie, Kattie, Kattie. We need to get you out of here."

"Mom, who's that?" Katara pointed to the man sitting in the chair opposite of her.

"No one! You must not know anyone's names here! You should not tell anyone what your name is, either, dear." Katara was confused, but she trusted her mother and she nodded. Something was bothering her mother, and she didn't like it. Her mother disappeared behind a door, and came out. "Do not drink anything here in this town unless it is this, do you understand me, Kattie? This is special water that will help clear your mind."

Katara took the glass, as if her hand was working on its own, and she drank the cup swiftly. It was a tart drink that made her purse her lips and wince slightly. "Do not eat anything here unless you brought it in with you, do you hear me?" Katara nodded, her mind was slowly opening up once more. She remembered a few things now, like Sokka and Aang. Why had she forgotten?

"…Why…What happened to me?"

Her mother sat down, elbow on the table and her head in her hand. She readjusted her head so that now her chin was in her hand. She sighed. "This town is an enchanted town, Kattie. One hundred years ago, this town was destroyed by one of the first attacks of the Fire Nation. The soldiers, however, did not comprehend the mysteries or the folk-lore of the town. A woman had lived here once, but she had been banished from it when she was found using witch-craft. She put a curse on the town, saying that when it was destroyed, every night afterward the town would become back to life. That all the people who had died in the attack would come back to life as spirits, slowly becoming real once again. And then in the morning, they would be killed by the reenactment of the attack."

Katara's eyes widened. "That's terrible!" she breathed.

"You must have gotten here right after it, my dear. At sunset every day, the town rebuilds itself to its formal glory, and then every morning the inhabitants are killed."

Katara thought carefully, tapping her chin with one finger. And then she narrowed her eyes and watched her mother carefully. "That doesn't make sense. Why are you here?"

Her mother looked at her daughter carefully. "I don't know. I found myself here after I died and traveled the Spirit World. I was tricked by a monkey meditating on a rock, I think. He told me to follow a light. I did, and I found myself here with no way out."

Katara gasped. "You mean every night you come back to life, only to be killed for something that you did not do?" Her mother shrugged. "That's…That's horrible. And…that fate is mine, now, too?"

Her mother shook her head. "There is a tale of a man who once found his way here. An old Fire Nation general. He found a way out his first 'day' in this town. He escaped, though we do not know how."

"What was his name?" Katara asked curiously, thinking of perhaps Zhao.

Her mother shook her head; her daughter had always asked the least important detail in a story. "I believe it was something starting with an 'I', though I'm not sure. Maybe his nickname was something around Dragon of the East? Of the West? Yes, I believe it was Dragon of the West."

Katara wrinkled her nose in thought. It sounded fairly familiar, but why? "So, how do we plan to get me out of here?" she asked.

Her mother shook her head once more. "I do not know, Kattie, but we will find a way. Until then, let us catch up. How is your brother?"

"So—" the man sitting in the chair opposite her leaned forward, and she remembered her mother's advice about not saying anyone's true name, "He is as sexist as ever. We are traveling with the Avatar."

Her mother breathed out. "So it is true, then. He has returned." Katara nodded, and once more her mother got out of her seat and back through the door. She came back out with a glass of the same drink. "Drink more, Kattie. It is good for you here." Katara did as she was told. She drank slower this time, afraid the bitter taste would dry her mouth up.

"I taught the Avatar water-bending, and he is a master of that now. He is very good, and I sense wisdom in him even though he is merely a twelve year-old boy. There is a girl we picked up in a town far away from her, an earth-bender. She is blind, but sees using the earth." Her mother nodded, interested in her tales. Finally, her mother stopped her from talking.

"Kattie, go explore the city."

"What? Why?"

Her mother handed her a canteen of the bitter drink. "Because, it'll be another tale to tell your brother and the Avatar when you get out of here. Plus it will give me time to think up a plan."

Katara studied her mother's face for a long time, and her mother added, "The night is still young, darling. It is your time of day, you are strongest." Katara nodded and stood to go to the door. "Remember what I told you? Do not drink or eat any of the food here." Katara nodded, opening the door and stepping out. The alleyway was now lit with lamps above every door. Honestly, she did not remember how she had gotten here, but she would find her way back to the center of town and make her way around from there.

Her foot-steps were soft on the cobblestone; swift but soft. She came to a fork in the road. One road was darker than the other, the other was brighter and the sound of laughter and talking were heard from down it. She went down the brighter path, her steps quick for she didn't like even walking down a bright path. She found herself at the fountain in which she had heard the lullaby. The town was busy and talkative, people laughing and chatting and gossiping. Katara's steps slowed, seeing how peaceful the town was.

She walked to the flagpole and took a left down another street where food-vendors were calling out to her. She shook her head to each, remembering what her mother had told her and keeping one hand on the canteen she had given her. And then she saw him, sitting at one of the vendors. His tall form was leaned over in annoyance, his eyes narrowed as he watched the vendor pile food upon the brown plate. _What is he doing here?_ She stopped in her tracks and watched. The vendor placed the food in front of the boy. _Don't eat it…_ she begged mentally. He took the chopsticks and clanked them together hungrily. He picked up a piece of chicken and was bringing it to his mouth.

"No!" Katara took a running jump and tackled the boy out of his stool, and onto the ground.

"What the hell?" the boy cried as his back slammed into the cobblestone, he looked at the girl lying on top of him with a desperate look in her cerulean eyes. "What are you doing here?"


	3. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them. If I owned them I would make so many twists, it isn't funny.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Mystery/Horror...  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone? 

**A/N:** I actually started this chapter this morning, only to finish near the end of the day! I'm not proud of this chapter, but its okay. At least I am keeping my chapters at a consistent length, for now. Maybe they will get longer as the story goes on. ...Zuko is so out of character its not even funny. Please review! Enjoy! - Solar Beam

* * *

**Chapter Two:**

"Get off of me, you stupid peasant!" The girl was shoved off of him and she rolled onto the floor beside him. The people who had stopped curiously to see what all the yelling was about just laughed, saying it was a "lover's quarrel", and walked on by. The girl got onto her hands and knees, facing him as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?" he snapped at her.

Katara was breathing heavily, not sure why she had stopped him from eating in the first place. She was just a good person, she supposed. "You can't eat any of the food or water here, Zu—Princey!"

Zuko sat there a moment, and then his head swung toward her and he growled at her. "Did you just call me _Princey_? My name is not _Princey_! My name is—"

Katara quickly covered his mouth with her hands, wincing at the touch of his warm skin against her cold hand. "Don't say your name here, not your real name." She looked around at the people who had stopped suddenly and looked at Zuko, their eyes filled with hunger. "I don't know why we shouldn't, but I just know…we shouldn't."

Zuko shoved her hand away from his mouth and, grumbling, pulled himself up. Katara scrambled upward after him. She patted down her dress, and glanced at the passing townsfolk suspiciously, "Just trust me on this. No food, no water, no name. Come up with something different." Zuko glared at her, and turned to leave. Why was that peasant talking to him anyways? Why did he have to sit here and listen?

She grabbed his arm. "Seriously, you have to listen to me!" He yanked his arm away from her and began walking, grumbling about crazy girls in crazy towns surrounded by water. She cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled after him, "Zuzu?" she paused, was that any better than Princey? "Zuzu you have to listen to me! Zuzu!" She screamed after him until the people passing by gave her strange looks. Katara blushed and stomped her feet slightly; well fine, if he didn't want her help then he could just stay here for all eternity.

She spun around and continued walking, storming pass vendor after vendor, ignoring the enticing smells of chicken, fried rice, noodles, and many others.

* * *

"Hi!" Zuko stopped and looked at the girl who now stood in front of him, her arms behind her back as she leaned forward with a kind smile. Her hair was dirty brown, strands of sunlight yellow coming down, going down her back and braided in pigtails. She wore a brown dress that went to her knees, lined with forest green. Her smile was bright and kind, but it only made Zuko sniff.

"Hello," Zuko shoved past her, further into the crowd of people. He heard footsteps all around him; he felt himself drowning in the crowd. Talking, laughing, merriment; it all sent shivers down his spine. He half felt bad for leaving that peasant girl, the water bender, alone in the vendors but he felt she could take care of herself. _She might be crazy, but she isn't stupid or weak,_ he thought, looking down at the cobblestone street. Someone shoved past him, and held out one hand to his chest to stop him. That same girl stood in front of him.

"You're kind of cute. My name is Akemi, what's yours?" When Zuko didn't answer, the girl pouted and poked him in the chest with her index finger a few times, pulling at the fabric of his peasant shirt. "You know that scar you have? It's strange, why would you have something like that over your eye?" Zuko shoved her hand away and walked past her. She, amazingly, kept up with his fast pace. "What happened?" she paused, "Did you get in a fight with a fire bender? Or did your family do that to you because you did something wrong?"

Zuko stopped and faced her. "It has nothing to do with you. Leave me alone." He shoved past her once more, but the girl just kept right up to him. Zuko could feel himself slowly becoming fuzzy, his mind becoming slow and it was hard to think.

"Please tell me your name!" she begged.

Zuko stopped once more; he cocked his head and looked at the girl next to him. "Akemi, right?" She nodded a smile on her face. "If I tell you my name, will you stop bugging me?" The girl smiled shyly, rolling backward on the balled of her feet and coming forward once more, an innocent look plastered to her face. Zuko sighed. There was something important he needed to remember about names. What was it? He shrugged. "The name is Zuko." He shoved past her, but the girl was suddenly in front of him.

Her eyes were no longer the coaxing dark green that they had once been, now they were black and hungry-looking, and when Zuko stared into them for too long he forgot who he was. Her teeth were no longer straight, but were fanged. She snarled, and a few others like her surrounded him. Zuko looked at them, a bit of terror itching its way into his foggy mind. Everywhere he turned black, hungry eyes lulled him into them. Suddenly all the other bodies disappeared and it was just the girl, Akemi. She grinned, not smiled, but grinned. A hungry grin, with fangs, but Zuko didn't notice. Something inside him told him to run, but he was just intoxicated with the beautiful girl that stood in front of him with the brown hair and green eyes.

"Zuzu?" called a voice from behind, "Where are you?"

He started to look back, but the girl grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her eyes. "You are mine," the girl said hungrily. Zuko looked into the girl's eyes, and finally his mind was lost. All he thought of was to give his master complete and utter loyalty. The girl began to breath in deeply through the mouth, and Zuko began to feel weaker and weaker.

"Zuko!" Suddenly the girl, Akemi, was tackled. Zuko shook his head, his mind not cleared but he was out of the trance. He looked around in confusion, and then down. That pesky water bender was on top of Akemi, punching her in the face once, twice, three times before Akemi shoved her off and pounced on her. Akemi looked down hungrily at Katara, a smirk on her face. Katara gasped; the girl had fangs!

"There are other ways for us to suck the life out of our victims, girl!" Akemi breathed; her voice was scratchy and dark. The girl grabbed Katara's wrist, and she pulled her head back, taking in the night air before ducking her head down, beginning to open her mouth to bite into Katara's wrist.

"Get off of me!" Katara screeched, trying to kick the girl off. Akemi got her mouth over Katara's wrist, and got just the points of her fangs into her wrist before she was pulled off and thrown to the side. Katara lay there a moment, breathing hard. People were just walking by, not taking any notice to the commotion in the middle of the street. Katara shut her eyes tight, pain searing from her wrist into her arm. She pulled herself into a tight ball, not noticing who her rescuer was or what he was doing to the girl.

A bloodcurdling screech filled a dark alleyway, where a girl was being burned alive against the wall. She writhed in pain, breathing hard and cursing to the Prince that stood above her. She felt all the life she had sucked out of pass victims escaping her body, and like diamonds in the sky they filled the air and drifted away. Zuko spat at the girl's still, ashen body and turned to go back to the water bender. "You okay, Peasant?" The girl didn't answer; she was rolling back and forth on the street, from side to side, tight in a small ball of pain.

"It burns," she screamed, "put it out!" Water in the troths on the side of the street began splashing against the side of their holders in reaction to the girl's pain. "Put it out!" her scream became louder and louder, and panic seared through the banished prince for the first time. The girl was actually in pain! He wasn't good with this kind of stuff. He looked around, crouching next to the girl.

Suddenly someone was beside him. A woman, with light brown hair and cerulean blue eyes and tan skin, was now crouching beside him, looking at the girl. "Kattie," the woman said softly, afraid to touch her daughter who was now lying still on the cold cobblestone, whimpering.

"Get away from her, wench!" the boy next to her cried, afraid that she would do more harm.

"I am the girl's mother!" the woman replied angrily. She shoved the boy aside, but she did not touch her. She covered her eyes. "Kattie, Kattie, Kattie," she repeated her daughter's name over and over again. And then she remembered what she gave Katara before she left; the canteen. "Where's her canteen?" she asked the boy.

The boy shrugged and began searching her daughter delicately. Finally, he found it strapped to her side and he tugged it out of its wrap. He looked inside and then sniffed the contents. "It's just water." He began to hand it to the woman but she just shook her head and pushed it back toward him.

"Poor it in the wound, then make her drink some, and then drink some yourself."

"How do I know you won't trick me?" the prince answered meekly. He didn't even see why he had to help this girl anyways. The woman gave him such a hard glare, that he knew she was not tricking him. He did as she told him. He took Katara's hand in his, palm up, and poured some of the drink on her wound; three bite marks. Then, he grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to open her mouth. Her breath was coming out shallow now. He poured some of the drink down her throat, and after a few minutes of nothing she shot forward, coughing hard. He drank some himself, and then he topped it and looked at the girl in front of him as she coughed harder.

Slowly, Katara opened her eyes. Her wrist was pulsing, but wasn't on fire anymore. She looked at her mother a few moments, confused. Her mother pointed beside her, and Katara looked to her side and there was Zuko, crouching beside her with her canteen in his hands. She yanked it away from him, snarling at him. "You're an ass." Her mother's eyes widened at her daughter's use of the curse word, and then she grinned.

"Why am I an ass?" he asked angrily.

"You should have listened to me, you idiot! I told you not to drink or eat anything here. I told you not to tell anybody your real name! You are such an ass! You are a big fat ass with no sense at all!" She stood on shaky legs, glaring at him as she began to walk away. Her mother just watched her walk away, and then she smiled sadly and disappeared in the opposite direction. Zuko glared in the direction of Katara, and then stomping his foot, he followed in pursuit. She was still weak, and she needed to dress the bite marks.

"Wait up!" he called as he slid between crowds of people, keeping an eye on the peasant's hair. Finally he caught up to her, keeping fast pace with her. "You need to dress that wound."

"Leave me alone," she growled.

"It'll get infected," he pointed out.

"I said to leave me alone. I don't want your help, and you don't want mine. Why are you even here to begin with? How did you get here?"

Zuko was silent. He didn't want to tell her that the only reason he was here was because he had stormed off from his uncle after he refused to use lightning on him, and then he had heard a familiar lullaby that his mother had once sang to him as a child. That's how he had gotten there. He didn't tell her. "Why are you here?" he retorted instead.

"It'll sound crazy, and I'm not in the mood to talk to you." She turned a sharp corner and came to a dead end in an alley. She kicked her foot against the wall of a building and turned on him. "I heard my mother singing to me; a lullaby from when I was a child. I couldn't believe it. My mother, who had been killed years ago, was singing to me now, calling to me." She sighed heavily, shrugging.

Zuko didn't say anything for a while. "Let's dress that wound," he said, reaching for her.

Katara jumped back and swung her arms in front of her. Water from the canteen on her other side, the water from the world outside of this town, formed a water whip and slapped him across the face. "Don't touch me. Don't help me. I don't need you." Zuko snarled.

"You are so stubborn!" Flames licked the palms of his fists, forming small fire daggers. Katara didn't even wince at this. She just glared at him, and Zuko noted it was the same glare her mother had given him. He was trying to help her, trying to prove that he was changed. He was no longer after the Avatar, what was the use when he wouldn't be accepted into his nation anyways? He was an enemy of the Fire Nation. He spoke with clenched teeth, "We both need each other right now. If you haven't noticed yet, we are the only normal ones."

Katara looked at him angrily. He had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't know the history of the town, so how would he know? Of course, Katara didn't know that Zuko also had a relative in the town, lost and unable to get out. His cousin, Lu Ten. He had told Zuko of the history, but he hadn't warned him of all the things Katara had tried to. "Look, peasant, we are the only _living_ beings here. We need to stick together. Get out of this together." He thought for a long time. They couldn't trust anybody here, not even her mother, not even his cousin. His cousin had coincidentally forgotten to warn Zuko, and for that Zuko did no longer trust him. But could they really trust Katara's mother?

"You're crazy," Katara grumbled, beginning to walk past him. He grabbed her wrist. He couldn't get out of here without her.

"My cousin, like your mother, is here. He told me the history of the town, what happens every night and every morning. He wants to help me get out of here."

"Then what is the problem?" Katara asked, yanking her arm out of his grasp but with no avail. He held it tight.

"The problem is that he didn't warn me about any of the things you tried to. Look what happened? I don't think we can trust anybody in this place. They are all lost souls that couldn't escape their fates. They are all stuck here, and if we don't get out of here we will join them. We need each other, and you know it."

Katara glared at him. "Are you saying that I shouldn't trust my own mother?"

Zuko slammed his free hand against his forehead. "That's just it, peasant, she's not your mother!"

Katara snarled. "Call me Kat, for goodness sakes my name isn't 'peasant'! And how dare you say that she isn't my mother. _She is my mother_!" With that Katara pulled her arm out of his grasp and she ran. She ran out of the alleyway. She ran down the street and around a corner. She ran until she couldn't run any longer. She ran until she got to a familiar door, where she slowly pushed it open and peered inside cautiously. What she saw sent chills down her spine.


	4. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them. If I owned them I would make so many twists, it isn't funny.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Mystery/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone? 

**A/N:** Yes, it took so very long to finish this chapter. For a while there, I was going to leave the last chapter just on that cliffie. But then I decided that it was the best cliffie I had ever written, and I shouldn't leave it hanging! Yes, I know. Brilliant me. Anyways, I like this chapter. I really do. So, here it is. Enjoy! - Solar Beam

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter Three:**

Katara's heart fell to her feet, her soul seemed crushed. It was amazing how her belief, her trust, her love, was broken in a second. She felt like her legs were jelly beneath her body, she felt as if all that made her was broken, shattered in just one sight. She wanted to hide under a blanket, in a whole, be lost in that damn Cave of Two Lovers, as long as she could never see this site ever again. She wanted to be safe and warm with her friends, and suddenly she wanted to be back with Zuko. She felt that she would have been at least safer with him than here with these…these…

A scream echoed off the walls of the small room. "Kattie?" Her mother dropped the child's still body on the ground, her eyes wide. "Kattie, what are you doing here?" She stepped forward, her hand outstretched. Her eyes were returning to their blue color, but her teeth. Her teeth seemed as if they could bit through the Fire Nation's metal.

Katara fell backward; against the wall of the room (she found she had stepped inside when she had opened the door). "D-Don't come near me…" she whispered through gritted teeth. Her mother narrowed her eyes sadly, looking at her daughter as if she had no idea of what she had been doing.

"Kattie, what's the matter with you?" Another step closer, hand coming closer to her face. Katara slides down the wall until she is sitting, her eyes wide in fear as her mother's hand touched her cheek. She was fairly reminded of Jet, when he had touched her cheek in order to try to get her to believe him. Her mother smiled sadly. Katara's eyes narrowed angrily and she swung her left arm under her mother's and slapped it off of her cheek. Then she jumped to her feet, uncorked her water canteen, and formed a water whip with bending, with the normal water from outside of the town.

"You aren't my mother." She whipped out with the whip, her mother dodged right. Katara swung her arms above her head and the whip followed suit, but her mother dodged that as well by jumping to the side. Katara was even more determined than ever; she had been tricked. She hated to be tricked. Katara swung out again, and this time it was swifter and her mother had not time to get out of the way. The whip went right through her, not even scratching her, not even propelling her into the far wall. The woman smirked, pointed teeth gleaming from the lamplight in the room.

A pointed tongue slipped from the woman's mouth, coming back in swiftly, like a snake's tongue. She grinned at Katara's reaction to the action. "Dear Katara, dear dear, Katara. You can't fight me, you can't even touch me.When are you going to realize; I am your mother." And then her hands moved to her far side, and the water on the ground shifted, and then lifted into a water whip. Her tan skin, those long fingers, the pointed nails. They controlled the water like any other waterbender. "_I am her soul_!" Katara had by this time inched away from the wall to gain more space, but the water that then hit her in the stomach forced her backward into the wall with a yelp of pain.

Katara didn't get up, she couldn't. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears, her fear was eminent and she knew that the beast in front of her knew how much she feared her. Katara just couldn't fight anything that even came close to looking like her mother. Katara shut her eyes tight as she felt the pulses of feet hit the wooden flooring, coming closer to her still form. Katara's body tensed, and slowly her eyes opened and she looked up. The woman's skin was tight against her form, and bumps and thorns poked from her skin outward like a demon's. Her ears were pointed, teeth were sharp, and eyes were black holes in her head. Black, hungry holes that called the life from within Katara. She couldn't peel her eyes away from the woman's eyes.

The creature cackled. "Yes, now you understand, child. I am your mother's darkest soul, her darkest half. This town is not only cursed, but we demons found it as a haven. So many lost souls, just waiting to be possessed!" She cackled again, loving the blank look in Katara's eyes. "But the only way to keep charge of these souls, is if we feast off of young, living souls. So, we use the child's favorite memory to call them to the town. And then, they are locked here. We mostly like to use a favorite song, or perhaps a favorite tune the soul used to give off when it was still alive. It calls to the children, so therefore the children come to us. Then they are locked in this town until morning. If they are one of the lucky ones, they will survive until morning. Of course, they never make it past the beautiful attack that had hit this town so many years ago." She sniffed contemptuously. "You and that firebender are one of the few lucky ones that have gotten thus far. If you haven't noticed, it is nearly dawn," she paused, and then she grinned evilly, "But this is the end, I fear. While I had lost control of your mother for a while back there, I took control afterward and now I will not let it go. It is just your soul that I need to take control of her for another 50 years. You and the firebender will not get any farther. This is the end."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko stared at his cousin's soul. He had shut off his senses so fully that he wasn't hypnotized by his eyes, but he listened carefully to what he said. This was not Lu Ten! This was some evil demon possessing his lost soul! Zuko clenched his jaw tightly, and his cousin's eyes narrowed. "Well, cousin. I suppose this is where I suck the life out of you so that I can have this soul for another fifty years or so. Such a shame that such a beautiful creature such as that waterbender must die this way." He pondered the thought for a moment, and then he shrugged, "but a demon must live on, and as they say, what goes around, comes around."

Zuko stared at the demon for a moment, and then he scratched his head and said, "That saying doesn't make any sense." Zuko swiftly shut his mouth, cursing his stupidity.

His cousin looked as if he were about to retort, but then his eyes widened and he snarled, hissing. A tongue came lashing out, pointed and dripping with venom. His black, cat-like eyes narrowed and began to glow as he roared angrily. "Why aren't you spellbound?" he howled.

Zuko smirked as he threw a flaming punch at his cousin. His cousin ducked and returned the action by throwing a flame-filled punch at Zuko. Zuko ducked to the ground and then side-stepped under the demon's arm, reappearing beside him. "Not all mortals are complete idiots!" He yelled as he bolted through the open door. He came to an empty alleyway. He could hear the demon letting off a strange sound from inside, but he let it pass. He began running: He needed to find Katara!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The demoness stopped what she was doing (which was sucking the life out of Katara) and listened intently to the wind. Katara's eyes were paling from the lack of life, becoming dim and glazed over. The demoness was looking younger than before, her body becoming more in charge of the lost soul. But that howl; it was the call of help, of warning. And it was from her mate! She looked down at the girl gripped in her clawed hands for a moment, before she dropped her still body onto the ground for later. The girl fell to the ground with a silent 'Oof' and a coughing fit. The demoness looked back at the waterbender angrily; she still had enough energy to move, for the girl was now making her way on shaky hands and knees toward a drawer on the far wall. The demoness smirked and the held the girl back by holding her shirt collar.

"Hold on there, little miss. You aren't going anywhere." The demoness picked up Katara by the shirt collar and threw her into a closet near the back of the room, hidden behind a few crates. She grinned down at the girl, crumpled on the ground trying to get up from her knees and hands. The demoness looked at her nails in a bored manner, "No one will find you in here, my dear. Once I get rid of this little…inconvenience…in our plan, you will be finished off." Katara suddenly found the strength in her legs to get up, and she swung around and beat the door the instant the demoness closed and locked it. Katara beat on the door, despite the hurt in her arms, crying and screaming.

"Let me out!" she cried. "Let me out…" she fell to her knees, the energy draining out of her even now. Her hands grasped at the door, forehead pressed against the wood as tears streamed down her cheeks. She beat one fist once more against the wood, "Let me out."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko ran down the empty streets, looking around. He had no idea where Katara resided, he had no clue as to where to start. He looked around a moment, and then felt someone tap his shoulder. His 'cousin' stared back at him, a toothy grin filling his face. "Hello, cousin." Fire exploded in his side and Zuko was propelled against a wooden wall.

But he was up in an instant, anger flaring in his eyes. "Don't call me cousin," he growled, flames enveloping around his body, his temperature rising to past one-hundred degrees. He threw his ankle against the ground, and flames shot out toward Lu Ten's body. Lu Ten fell backwards in surprise. "You aren't Lu Ten."

The demon jumped back up and soon they were in a full-out fight. Flame against flame. Fist and against fist. Zuko spun his leg around to his left in a round-house kick, but the demon caught it with an evil smirk and spun him around on his side in mid-air, before Zuko fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Zuko looked back at his cousin, and his eyes narrowed as he then swung his body around on the ground, as he had done many months ago during an Agni Kai against Admiral Zhao. Flames came from both of his feet, now, and he took the Lu Ten demon by surprise. The demon was feeding off of Lu Ten's soul's memories, and he did not remember the prince being so strong. The soul couldn't help but be proud of his younger cousin, despite the fact that Lu Ten was still possessed. The demon was thrown on his back, painfully, and he let out an angry yowl.

The difference between this fight and the one against Admiral Zhao: Zuko wasn't going to miss. He pulled his fists together, threw his ankle up in the air and swung downward with all of his weight and breath. His ankle hit the demon square in the chest, knocking the air out of him and causing him to pass out. And then Zuko was up, running down the nearest alleyway. His hands trailed the walls forming the tight passage, and his eyes narrowed, adjusting to the dim light of dawn. "Katara, where are you?"

As if in answer, he heard something behind a door. It sounded like someone growling, and then a cackle, and then the door opened. "Stay right there, deary, I'll be back once I destroy your little firebender friend." Zuko grinned at the demon in front of him, and the demoness's eyes widened in shock.

"Looking for me?" Zuko threw his leg back and then kicked the demoness backward. Her eyes were wide, and then they narrowed and she looked at him hungrily.

"Yes, I am." And then she was up and she lifted her arms up and called upon the town's water in the buckets against the walls. She grinned, and Zuko looked at her curiously. Was Katara's mother a waterbender? A good burst in the gut told him the answer as a ball of water caused Zuko to stumble backwards against a wall. He shook his head, eyes wide and dazed; it had really caused the air out of him. And then she was in front of him, blue eyes gone, replaced by black holes and her teeth were pointed hungrily. Once gain she was showing her demoness side and Zuko got lost unexpectedly in those holes, and he could feel his mind getting fuzzy as she began to speak to him in words he couldn't pinpoint.

Just as the beast began to breathe in his life hungrily, the beast crumbled to the ground, withering in place, the outer demoness body burning up and disappearing. Katara stood behind her, her eyes wide and angry, her arms were raised in the ready position as she called back the stream of the water that had healed her after her own attack in the street, when Akina had attacked her. She called back the water, slipping it back in the correct canteen. She glared at the withering body, and then something amazing happen. Uplifted a tiny light, a small light that came towards her and caressed her cheeks lovingly. "Mom?" Katara whispered, her voice choked.

"I will always believe you, my strong waterbender," the voice echoed in her ears and in her head, and then it disappeared in a wisp of air.

Katara nearly fell to her knees. While locked in the closet, Katara had faintly remembered the demoness, or rather while her mother was fighting the possession, had given her a canteen filled with the water that could clear the mind. She had drunk the water in tiny gulps, and slowly her mind had cleared and her strength returned slowly. It wasn't back fully, however, and as soon as her mother disappeared it took all of her strength just to crawl over to Zuko (who was sitting on the ground and gasping for air) and give him some of the water. Zuko shook his head and then looked around, and then down at Katara. He had all of his strength; the demoness had only taken a bit of his energy and youth.

"What happened to the demon?" he asked.

"The water doesn't only purify the human soul, Zuzu, it purifies the demon soul as well. By killing it and releasing the possessed soul." She grinned weakly, and even though Zuko itched to tell her not to call him that anymore, he reached over and, despite all of his morals, he hugged her tight to his chest. Katara was surprised by this, and she didn't return the action. Her arms just hung loosely at her sides, her eyes wide in confusion. Zuko was just so relieved she had been safe.

And then, the door was blasted to the other side of the room and through the smoke stepped in Lu Ten's possessed form. His eyes narrowed at the two, and Zuko swiftly stood up and threw his leg around and through a blast of fire at him. Lu Ten, or the demon, dodged by throwing himself aside, and then he threw the exact same attack back at Zuko. Zuko cut the flames off and then he threw himself at the demon, flames alight in his fists. Lu ten threw the exact attack at him, his eyes glowing dangerously, happily, hungrily. Katara stood on shaky legs, her eyes wide as she watched the two. Zuko caught Lu Ten off guard and he threw his fist under the demon's arms and up into the chin, where it caught on fire and the demon was flung up into the air yelling in pain. The demon was up again in a second, spinning around on his back and on his feet.

Zuko looked bewildered as the demon threw his body into Zuko, his body aflame. Zuko yelled out in pain, and Katara felt herself weaken. Her eyes were wide when Zuko got back up and threw his legs on the ground and his fist following. With a deep breath, fire escaped his fists and then he threw the flames in fiery bursts, continuously, after the dancing demon. "You can't kill it like that," Katara said softly, realizing it. "Zuzu! You can't kill it with fire!" Zuko looked at her curiously, only to be rammed into the wall painfully.

Katara frowned and stepped up, behind the beast. Katara took a deep breath, let it out, and then threw it at him. An icicle made of the water that could burn a demon and kill it. The demon felt the pain first, inside of his stomach. Shocked, he looked down to see fire burning his demon body. He looked at the girl, and let go of the boy in which he had grabbed the neck of. Zuko fell to the ground, breathing hard. The demon stepped forward threateningly, but then another icicle stabbed his heart. He looked down, and slowly his skin began to burn up. He reached out to the girl angrily, his eyes burning, but already his hand was gone. He crumbled, turned to ash, and fell to the ground with a terrible yell. Katara fell to her knees, out of breath. And then, as it had done with Katara's mother, a bright light appeared from within the ashes and appeared in front of Zuko just as he came back to.

"Zuko," Zuko's golden eyes widened, even his bad eye, "my cousin, thank you and your friend for saving me. The portal you want to find is the flag pole. Give…my father…my love." And then the orb disappeared and Zuko blinked uncertainly.

"Did you just see that?"

Katara moaned slightly, her eyes shut as she stood on shaky legs. "Yeah, it was his soul being released from the town." She stumbled over to the wall for support, but found instead Zuko had caught her by the waist.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but we need to get to the portal. It closes when the sun's light hits it."

Zuko looked at her curiously. "How do you know _that_?" He asked, amazed.

Katara looked up at him weakly, a shrug just barely making its way into her shoulders. "I…I don't know. I think it just…came to me. From my mother."

Zuko nodded and he grabbed hold of her by the hand. "Can you walk? We need to hurry, the sun is coming up."

But Katara found strength enough in her legs to hurry on. "We need to get out of here before the attack…" She was dragging him behind her, out the door, into the alley that was lighter now that the sun was coming up. Her heart was racing and her pained legs turned into a sprint. Zuko let go of her hand and made his way after her, keeping up fully. A few people were waking up, people whose jobs called for it. They were probably doing what they had been doing the day of the attack; going to the bakery.

Katara hardly noticed, she was just following her feet to the flagpole. "Where…where is it?" she asked, as she was lost.

"Over there!" Now Zuko was holding her hand again, dragging her behind him. He was running toward it, racing against the light. The light was just barely touching the pole. "Katara, go!" Zuko shoved her ahead and Katara tripped into a bright circle that circled around the flagpole.

"Zuko!" Her cry was heard even through the portal. Katara found herself in the forest, outside of the town, destroyed now. Katara's eyes widened in happiness. She would be back with her friends! She would feed Sokka anything he wanted, she would give Aang a huge hug and a large kiss on the cheek. She would get out of Toph's way, and stay out of her way, while wishing she could hug her like a sister. She couldn't wait to see her friends! And then something landed on top of her, something heavy.

"We're back!"

Katara shoved Zuko off of her and then she stood in excitement, clapping her hands together. "Yes, we did it!" She grinned at him, and he returned the favor. "I can't wait to see my friends…"

Zuko went quiet. Her friends; they would never believe that he had helped her. He sighed. He wanted to see Uncle, needed to tell him what Lu Ten's soul had wanted to tell him. He looked at her for a moment, and then his face returned to the cold, blank space that he had as a prince. "This is where we part."

He held out a hand to her, but she just looked at it blankly. She swung her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Thanks," she said softly. She backed off of him. "Zuzu," she smirked at his stony face at the nickname. Every time she said that, he was reminded of Azula.

He glared at her, clenched his fists, spun around and walked away. Katara was left there, confused but with a smirk on her face. That's when she turned around, walking back, retracing her steps, trying to find Appa and her friends. She could almost smell Appa; they hadn't bathed him in so long, it was easy to track. She wondered how long they had been gone. Suddenly, she stopped excitement clear in her blue eyes. "Aang, Sokka, Toph! I'm back!"

"Don't worry, Sokka, I'm sure Katara is fine," Aang said, patting his friend on the back.

"She hasn't showed up in three days, Aang, and we can't find that stupid town that was destroyed. Something had to have happened to her!"

Toph was sitting on a rock platform she must have made, quietly listening to their conversation. "Guys, I'm right here!" Katara yelled, waving her arms around. Her friends didn't even acknowledge her. Then, Toph's head swiveled around and faced toward her, but her eyebrows were knitted together as if she could feel something but she didn't know what it was. "Guys!" Katara ran over to Aang to try and hug him but she fell right through him.

Aang shivered. "What's the matter with you?" Sokka asked, his voice dull and his eyes sad.

Aang looked at Sokka in confusion. "I could have sworn I just felt something go through me. It was the weirdest sensation."

Toph was still quiet, but her head was following Katara's movements, though she couldn't see her or feel her. Finally, she spoke up. "Don't worry, you two worry warts. Sugar Queen knows how to take care of herself, she'll be back in no time."

Katara fell to her knees as they nodded and got on Appa. "Might as well go look one more time for that town," commented Aang, rubbing his hand over his bald head, "She could be anywhere."

"I'm right here! Why can't you see me?" Katara yelled, slamming her fist against the ground. And then she so happened to look down at her hands, and that's when she realized; she could see through them just barely. She looked at her body in confusion. It was all making sense. She looked up in realization, her eyes wide with horror. "I'm in the Spirit World!"  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Now, to thank all of the lovely reviewers!**

**Cayavatar, ****Sweetnevermore, ****Silver Shadow 75, ****Zutara4ever, ****Cold Static**

**Your reviews made me smile, and some even made me laugh out loud! I liked the reaction of the last chapter, so I hope this one is equally...err...wonderful. Heh, anyways, thanks to all of the readers and reviewers! **


	5. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Mystery/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?

**A/N:** Wow, did it take long enough to update? Must have. It took me forever to update this time, but I ended the last chapter in such a strange place I felt I couldn't write even one more word. I felt terrible! (For those of you who were wondering what else kept me up, it was the beginning of my Freshman year this week). Thankfully, it was my dear fried Cold Static who reminded me that I better update my Ghost Town story (through a very discreet note in my planner). So, everyone thank her for reminding me to update. Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all of the lovely reviewers, by the way! Enjoy! –Solar Beam

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter Four:**

Zuko shrugged himself forward. He had left her there, all alone. Perhaps he should turn back. He paused and glanced back through the woods he had just trampled through in a rage. She had, of course, used the nickname Azula had so thoughtfully created for him. Zuko highly disliked the nickname; it made him feel weak and stupid. He sighed heavily and began to turn back around to walk to where he thought his Uncle might be. And of course, after only about an hour of walking, Zuko spotted a small puff of smoke escaping the tree-tops ahead. Eager to see his uncle, Zuko sped his pace up.

He lifted the bushes away from him as he appeared his eyes wide with glee. "Uncle!" he cried in excitement.

His Uncle looked up curiously. And then his wrinkled eyes narrowed suspiciously and his eyes searched the woods surrounding Zuko. "Uncle, I'm back," Zuko paused when his uncle continued to ignore him by staying silent, only looking into the trees distrustfully, "Haven't you missed me at all?" No answer.

The old Dragon of the West rubbed his chin thoughtfully a moment, before standing and brushing his dresses off from any dirt or dust. He stepped over the flames of the fire, which had a pot of Jasmine Tea dangling from a stick above it, and came closer to where Zuko stood. "Spirit," the old man said, "You must pass over to the other side. You know that, do you not?"

Zuko stared at his uncle in bewilderment. "What are you old gas-bag talking about? Stop playing these silly games!"

Iroh stroked his beard a moment longer, and then his eyes widened. The old man stared at the empty space in front of him (where Zuko actually stood) and his mouth fell open. "Zuko, my nephew! You fell into the clutches of that town, didn't you?" Zuko sighed and nodded.

"Finally you are done with your game. Yes, I did. And that stupid waterbender was there, too. We got out though and—"

"Nephew, you are stuck in the Spirit World! If you ever wish to escape it, you must find a way out! I can only see your outline, and I can only see your aura, but I know it is you. It is very clear to me. You are unseeable to the human eye right now."

Zuko let it soak in. He blinked, "You really are crazy, aren't you?"

Iroh shook his head. "Many years ago I was wandering through this same forest when suddenly I was drawn into this destroyed town by a melody my wife used to hum to Lu Ten. I was in that town for only a few minutes, it seemed, before it got dark and everything came to life. Long story short, I got myself out only to find myself in the Spirit World! It took me years to get out, it seemed, when really it was only a mere few days! Zuko, you must escape. The reason I see spirits is for that reason: what is days in the living human world, is _years_ to the Spirit World! Time in that World is like an illusion, a very long illusion. Zuko, you must escape!"

"I don't understand," Zuko said uneasily, looking at his Uncle in worry. Not for himself, but for Katara…and if he left now to find a way out, he would have to leave his Uncle behind.

"Don't you understand, my boy? I really spent years in the Spirit World! So many years, that I died in the Spirit World. That is how I can see spirits, because I was supposed to die. I never aged physically, just mentally. My mind got slow, and I could feel my energy draining out of me every passing living day. I was still young-looking, however. Zuko, you must find a way to escape! It is very dangerous in the Spirit World, Zuko; there is no bending!"

Zuko stared at his uncle a moment, but it was clear that he was not lying. Zuko began to panic silently. He had left Katara alone! She did not have any bending abilities here, and she would be completely helpless! He had left her alone!

Iroh shut his eyes for a moment, feeling a wave of panic rush through his nephew's spirit. Then, it was gone. Iroh opened his eyes, expecting to find his nephew calm once more. But instead, Zuko's aura was gone completely. Where his spirit had stood, were the simple words: 'Lu Ten sends his love.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katara fell to her knees. "Come on, you guys. Wake up, Katara. Just wake up, already." She slapped her fisted hands against her forehead, trying to wake up. She never did. One tear streamed down her cheek. She couldn't believe she was stuck in the Spirit World. She wondered if Zuko was stuck, as well, or if he had gotten completely through. She shuddered. Being here alone; she couldn't think she could handle it.

And then she was up once more on her feet and stomping around in front of her worried friends, her arms waving in the air in annoyance. She stopped in front of Aang and glared at him. She tried to slap him on the back of his head, but her hand went right through his head and Aang ended up scratching where she had meant to hit. "Aang! Some Avatar you are; 'Bridge between two Worlds'…yeah right!" She tried to hit him again but it went right through, and he scratched his cheek too, his eyes curious. Katara began to storm around, in front of Sokka. "And you! Why couldn't you hear Mom's lullaby, and I could? Its not fair! You are such a pig-head!" So she swung once at her brother, and he slapped his cheek as if there were a bug on it.

Aang looked at Sokka curiously. "Do you feel as if you are being bitten up by mosquitoes?" Sokka nodded curiously.

Toph looked over at the two curiously. "I don't feel anything. I don't think I am being bitten up."

They looked at her and continued talking, their conversation for the moment changed to the topic of mosquitoes, and Katara let out a cry of annoyance. It sounded more like a strangled scream, changing tunes from that of terrified, to annoyance, to anger, to horror, and back to annoyance. She stomped around a few times, throwing her arms in the air before falling to the ground right as something jumped at her—well, over her, considering right as it flew at her she fell to the ground in exasperation.

Instantly Katara was back on her feet and in a ready, waterbender's stance. But her stance slackened when she found, lying on his stomach on the ground, was the Prince of the Fire Nation himself. Aang and the others ignored him completely, as if he wasn't there. "Zuko, can you see me?"

Zuko was on his feet in an instant, his hands up in a fighting stance as he circled the clearing her friends were at as if he were looking for danger. "What's the matter? Why did you scream? Where's the danger?"

Katara blinked, "Danger?"

Zuko spun around. "Yes, _danger_! We are in the _Spirit World_…there's going to be some sort of danger here! Why did you scream?"

Katara blinked once more, "Because I was…aggravated?"

Zuko nearly fell over onto his side in exasperation. He straightened himself up and in an instant he was in front of her, grasping her wrists tightly and glaring into her eyes. "Do not scream like that unless you are in trouble, you stupid peasant!"

Katara blinked once more (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately), "You were…worried about me?"

Zuko let go of her and in an instant he was facing away from her, eyes glaring at a tree with his arms crossed over his strong chest. "No."

"You were. You _were_ worried about me!" Katara said, her eyes widened and a slow grin spreading across her lips. She stepped forward to be beside him, she leaned forward (her hands on her knees) so that she could look into his face from beside him. She poked him in the side. "Weren't you?" she asked slyly.

Zuko looked down at her in disgust. "I was not worried about you! I was worried that if you got hurt, I would not have a way home. Who knows, perhaps we need each other for this escape as well."

Katara straightened up and set her arms on her hips. "Whatever you say," she said with a shrug, and then in a monotone she said under her breath, "though its obvious that you were worried about me."

Zuko stomped his foot and stormed into the surrounding forests, leaving Katara behind in his dust. Katara squeaked, not wanting to be left behind, and raced up behind him (while dodging branches he let go of while he passed). She kept up as best she could behind him. "So, any ideas?" There was silence.

"Ideas of what?"

"Of how to get out of here, Zuko!" Zuko released a branch and Katara just narrowly escaped it as it came flying back at her chest. She ran up beside him. "And watch out for those branches! One nearly be-headed me back there!"

Zuko spun around at her and she bumped into him clumsily. "Has anyone ever told you that you complain too much?" he growled, glaring at her.

"…No."

She was quiet, and Zuko sighed heavily before turning back around and continuing walking. Katara kept up with his pace, this time nearly perfectly. They were both quiet a moment as they walked, but finally Katara broke the silence. "Where are we going to go, Zuko? We have nowhere to go to! We are in the Spirit World! How are we going to get out? Zuko! Answer me, darnet!"

Zuko was quiet, he only knew one person to turn to. He finally saw the smoke up ahead and sped up his pace a little. He pushed through the brush and ended up back at his Uncle's camp. This time, Iroh looked up expectantly at the empty space in front of him. "Ah, Nephew, you have returned!" Katara popped up beside Zuko, complaining to him about leaving her in his dust. "Ah, and you have brought a friend? …She seems familiar, Prince Zuko. Is she perhaps the young waterbender who travels with the Avatar?"

Katara stepped behind Zuko, as if she saw something terrifying in front of her, her eyes wide. "He can see us?" she whispered.

"Of course. He went through the same thing we did. Katara, we have to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't know how, but I do know why. Time in the Spirit World goes by quicker than in the Living World. One day might be two years. We grow older each time, though our physical appearances stay the same, our mentality grows older until we finally die."

Katara gasped and stepped forward from behind Zuko to get a better look at the old man. "So how can he see us? And who is he—I mean I always see him with you, but I've always wondered who he is. Oh, and his wound is much better, I see!" She, of course, was speaking of the lightning strike Azula had put upon the old man in an abandoned town not too long ago.

"He can see us because he was stuck in the Spirit World as well, I suppose. He was in the Spirit World for a few days, perhaps a week or so, and he was on the brink of death when he escaped. Therefore, I guess, he can see outlines of spirits. And he is my Uncle Iroh, Dragon of the West," Zuko managed to explain through gritted teeth. Not only did this girl manage to complain, but she also managed to ask aggravating questions.

"The Dragon of the West? I've heard of him! The general who tried to get through to Ba Sing Se. I believe I remember over-hearing that when my mom and dad were talking one night." She went quiet and Zuko let out a thankful sigh.

"Well, it seems you two must work together," Iroh was saying now, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "You will need the strength in each other to get out of this. And perhaps it will be easier with two people; I was on my own, you see, when I managed to escape. There is a very good chance you will be able to get out before your mentality gets older. But right now you are in the veil separating the two Worlds, Zuko. You must get to the Spirit World itself. Perhaps the Avatar would be able to help you, or perhaps he is too young. There must be a totem, something spiritual around these forests to help you along the way besides the broken and destroyed town."

Zuko glanced down at Katara who was fidgeting with the necklace around her neck. He looked back at his uncle. "We will try and find something, Uncle, don't worry about us. I'll protect the girl."

"You two should go now. You do not want to waste the precious time you have," he paused before saying, "and Zuko, please protect the girl. Who knows what the Avatar would do if you lose his dear friend?" Zuko nodded, even though he had already stated that he would protect her. Katara blushed, worried, remembering the last time she had been in harm's way. It was when they were with the crazy General Fong, when he had put Katara under ground. Aang had put himself in the Avatar State in anger. The whole fort was nearly destroyed by Aang's fury.

Zuko grabbed Katara's forearm and dragged her away. Katara stumbled behind him, for he was just dragging her behind him as if she was nothing but something to hold on to. "Hey, not so rough! Let go!" Zuko swung her body out in front of his, her back to him, and he let go of her arm, pushing her forward with a finger.

"I want you in front of me at all times, Katara, where I can keep an eye on you," he stated firmly. He poked her in the back once more when she stopped walking, her arms across her chest and her nose in the air stubbornly. He poked her harder and she stumbled forward. She shot a hard glare at him before continuing on walking.

They continued like this in silence for a long time. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" Zuko finally asked, dodging a branch that came back swinging at his head.

Katara scoffed. "Of course I don't! You should be leading, not me! I don't know where I am going!"

Zuko slammed a hand against his head, only to be smacked in the chest by a branch that came swinging back at him as Katara passed. She spun around when she heard a thud against the ground, and blushed in embarrassment when Zuko slowly sat up and rubbed his stomach. "What where you are letting those things go!" he yelled angrily, "and we were going to head toward the Avatar!"

"You never told me that! Why didn't you just say so? Why are you so stubborn?" she hollered back, stomping a foot with her hands on her hips.

"I am not stubborn! You are! Why can't you just do as I say?"

Katara was screeching now, "You didn't tell me anything! You've been shut-up all day!" She stomped her foot once more, her eyes shut tightly and her nose in the air in defiance. She felt she really disliked him at the moment, perhaps not hate, but something close to it.

Zuko snarled at her, but stood up slowly. "Come on, then; do as I say and walk forward." Katara looked as if she were about to reply, but shut her mouth, clenching her jaw, and spun around and walked as he said. "And we are going to look for your little Avatar friend."

"Did ssssss-someone ssssss-say Avatar?" asked a silky-smooth voice. Suddenly, a large snake-like demon appeared in front of the two teenagers, eyes glowing dangerously in the light of the dim day. Zuko's heart jumped and he could feel Katara stiffen and reach discreetly toward her canteen filled with water. Zuko grabbed her hand, though, for she was in reaching distance, and stopped her. She glanced back at him and he slowly shook his head, indicating that she shouldn't. He was reminded that they could not bend in the Spirit World.

"Then what do you suppose?" she said in a hushed voice through gritted teeth, not leaving her eyes from the snake as it slowly began to curl its way around the two teens, making them come closer together as it coiled around.

"On the count of three," Zuko began slowly, "we run."

Katara was pressed up against Zuko by now, her eyes wide, her back against him as she stared at the coiling scales surrounding her. She hated snakes. _Why'd it have to be a snake?_ The snake's sparkling scales, black and yellow mixed with browns and reds, sparkled in the veil's dim respect of light making Katara shiver. The snake was looking at her as if she was a snack. _I'm probably a salad compared to Zuko,_ she thought with another shiver.

The snake's tongue triggered out and wiggled beneath Katara's chin temptingly, and Katara fought a scream that itched its way into her throat as she stood paralyzed at the spot. She couldn't move—no, she didn't _want_ to move. But already Zuko was beginning to count down. "One…"

Katara tried to tell Zuko 'no', tried to force the words that she couldn't move out of her mouth. "Two…"

Katara didn't know now whether she really was paralyzed or not. The feeling in her body was slightly similar to that of the bounty hunter's xir-xu, but she still couldn't tell. Zuko had his hands on her upper forearms, and they tightened reflexively as the snake drew back its head with its fangs open wide. "Three!" Zuko threw Katara over the snake's coil and jumped over just as the snake shot out, biting into the dirt other than the two morsels of humans. "Run, Katara, run!"

Katara found her footing and began running blindly through the trees. "Run!" Zuko's voice was close behind her; he was obviously still keeping up to the law of her being in front of him so that he could keep an eye on her. Katara jumped over a fallen log, only to clumsily fall over onto her hands and knees. Zuko was beside her in an instant, his hands picking her up and setting her on her feet. The crash of a large body against invisible shields were heard behind them, and then the snake's head reared into view behind them.

Finally, Katara's scream was let loose and Zuko covered his ears in an attempt to block it out. The snake hissed furiously, but it seemed pleased. "Dinner to go…how delightful!" it purred as it struck out once more. Katara was thrown aside and Zuko landed on top of her in the brush. The snake shook its head furiously, and Katara found herself on her feet once more, being pushed forward by a persistent Zuko.

"Keep going, don't look back!" he urged quietly. Katara started making her way slowly through the brush this time. Suddenly Zuko put his hand on top of her head, pushing her down into a crouch with himself beside her. His eyes were narrowed as they felt a shudder in the earth. The snake was passing right by them on a path made for the Living; it was sniffing the air with its tongue.

"Come out; come out, wherever you are my delicious morsels!" it purred temptingly.

Katara felt her breath hitch in her throat as it finally passed completely. Zuko nudged her and pointed her in the opposite direction, to the way they had come from and Katara nodded, understanding. She kept on her hands and knees, and crawled forward as best she could. She could see a path up ahead, and began to veer to the side when suddenly something grabbed her from behind and flung her into the air. She let out a scream and she heard a holler from Zuko bellow. Katara didn't know what was happening, she could see the land bellow her, feel the wind hitting her face as she fell from mid-air. _How did I get up here?_ She wondered dazedly, until she saw a pit of blackness coming closer to her. She shut her eyes tightly, and then met darkness.


	6. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Mystery/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?

**A/N:** Alright, quick update. Wrote this at school, sorry if its sloppy. Umm...this chapter starts from where I left off except in Zuko's P.O.V. And please don't hurt me for the OC characters, they're only in here for at least two chapters, this one and another. Don't hurt me. -ducks all pans being thrown- Oh, and everyone thank Cold Static because she was the one who reminded me to update. :3 -Solar Beam

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

Zuko kept Katara in a low crouch as the snake passed, keeping one hand on top of her head. When the snake passed completely, it silver and black scales shifting away, he tapped her and then pointed in the direction from which they had come. Katara nodded in understanding and began moving that way, and Zuko kept close behind her. _I'm not going to let anything happen to you,_ he promised her and himself secretly. That's when the tongue of the snake slipped around Katara's belly and swung her into the air. The snake opened it giant jaws, releasing Katara from his tongue, his fangs dripping with saliva. Zuko jumped up, "Katara, no!"

Her scream echoed through his very soul as the beastly snake snapped his jaws shut after the girl and swallowed. Zuko's heart fell to the pit of his stomach. He couldn't believe it, his promise, everything, was for nothing. Katara was gone.

The snake swallowed and snapped its jaws a few times. "Mmmm, tasssss-stes just like mother usssssed to catch them," it purred. And then it coughed a few times, choked, coughed, and then it spit something up before shaking his head. It hissed angrily. "No, it went down the wrong tube," and then he looked at Zuko and opened its mouth wide, baring his dripping fangs. "Oh well, now for the main courssssse."

It lunged its head at Zuko, and he dodge-rolled out of the way. He leapt back to his feet, his fits clenched. He was angry; Katara was gone. _Damn snake_. It had taken Katara. Steam began to rise from his fists, but he ignored it. The snake was coming back at him, and Zuko wasn't going to move. _Come and get me,_ he thought daringly.

Then something snapped above the snakes head and the snake's head lurched slightly. It looked confused a moment, before it shook its head and began coming at Zuko again. There was another snap, and the snake lurched. There were more snaps, and each time the snake lurched forward and backward a few times. Then, the snake's head fell to the floor in a lifeless crumble, seven black arrows sticking from the back of the scull.

Zuko looked up toward the trees and there, wearing dark, Earth Nation green clothes, stood a young girl, brown bow raised with arrow drawn. Slowly the girl lowered the bow, and then she took out the arrow and, after spinning it in her hand a few times, she lifted it into the quiver swung over her shoulder. But Zuko was confused; while the girl wore Earth Kingdom drab, she was obviously Fire Nation. She had pale white skin and golden eyes with black, black hair that was pulled into a loose ponytail. She was well fit, with thin lips and arched eyebrows. Her eyes scanned him a moment, and then the girl snorted in distaste and jumped down from the tree.

She completely ignored him as she came up beside the lifeless snake and began pulling the arrows from its head. After she had cleaned each of the seven used arrows off and set them in her quiver, she turned to him and glared at him. "So, you can see me."

"You can see _me_," Zuko corrected

The girl shrugged. "Either way you look at it, it's simple to tell that you are definitely not dead." She held up her hand to stop Zuko from opening his mouth and speaking once more. "I should thank you and your friend for being bait for King Snake, I've been hunting him for years. The name's Yasu Al, I'm one of the many guardians that protects the veil that separates the real world from the spirit."

"I'm Zuko, and you shouldn't go around thanking people who just risked their lives. I've lost my friend, thanks to you. You were there the whole time, why didn't you help her?"

Yasu Al turned her golden eyes to him, glared at him, and then shrugged. "I know who you are. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, son of Lord Ozai and Lady Ursa, brother of Princess Azula, nephew to the great Dragon of the West, and cousin to the past Lu Ten," she paused, "I know who you are."

She turned and began to walk away, Zuko ran to catch up. "Well if you know me so well, why didn't you try to help us?"

"Don't worry about your little friend; she's safe and completely un-eaten. King Snake mentioned that she went down the wrong tube, yes? Well, King Snake had a portal to the Spirit World in his body, its all very confusing and not worth trying to explain. Long story short is that he wanted to become the most powerful fiend in the veil, and therefore he ate a portal. Stupid snake…" She shook her head.

"So…Katara was sent to the…Spirit World?" It all sounded very unreal to Zuko. He wasn't sure he should trust this girl; he hardly knew a thing about her!

"Look, I'm going to help you out of here, let you go to the Spirit World to find your friend and get out of here. You can't stay here, you have such a big future ahead of you, and you shouldn't stay here long." She continued walking and he followed like a sick puppy.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to take you to one of the only portals I know of that might take you close enough to her. But once you get to the Spirit World, you have to go straight to her and try to stay away from any other human spirits." Her breathing was even, though she walked fast-pace and jumped over logs with ease, almost like an airbender.

"You can't come to the spirit world also? And why can't I see any other spirits?" Zuko's breathing was getting harsh now, gasping for breath as he trained to keep up.

Yasu Al suddenly stopped and turned, looking at him oddly. "You _want_ to see dead people?"

Zuko stopped shortly after her, leaning over his knees out of breath, and said, "Why? You're obviously dead, and there's nothing wrong with you."

Yasu Al's eyes suddenly got very sad. "Its because I had a clean death. Many of the spirits in the Spirit World have had terrible demises, unclean deaths, and unnatural deaths due to the war."

Zuko was silent.

Yasu Al's eyes suddenly grew dark once more and she poked him in the chest angrily, "Take my advice and don't go lolly-gaggling with the dead people. It can get messy. And you are of the living! Just trust me." She began walking once more.

"Why should I trust you?" Zuko asked, "I know nothing about you!"

She continued walking, but spoke in an even, monotonous tone, "Fine, I'll tell you about me, will that help?" Without waiting for an answer, she jumped into her history. "You might have noticed that I look nothing of Earth Kingdom relativity. I was, in fact, born into a wealthy nobleman home in the Fire Nation. My father was an old general, come home from the war because of his wounded leg. My mother was a beautiful woman with a stunning personality; everyone seemed to love her so much, especially my father. As for me, I could have cared less for her. Then there was my sister, Emi. She was such a little flirt, so much younger than me, yet so much more social. As my name suggests, I was calm as a child, never speaking up much, always quiet and observant and since I was the oldest, I would have inherited my father's estate.

"When I was about seven years old, a few months before I left for the Fire Nation Academy for Young Girls, I got very ill. I lay in bed for nearly three weeks, coughing and choking and becoming even sicker with a bad fever. My nurse-maid, oh, she was so kind to me. She read to me in bed and helped me get to the point where I could stand on my own two feet without the help of a man servant! When I was well enough to get out of bed one day, she told me I was allowed to walk in my mother's garden. 'The fresh air will do you some good,' she said. So, I went on a walk through my mother's garden. I started on the rose path, picking a rose here or there, and setting them down on the path as a marker (though I hardly needed it).

"Just as I was turning into the daisy path, I heard my mother's voice. I thought it odd that anyone else would be in this garden but my mother and I, considering my mother's gardeners come out early in the morning. So, I hid behind a bush after hearing another voice and crawled toward where my mother stood. There was my mother, clothed in her Fire Nation dresses with her black hair pulled into a bun atop her head, talking to two cloaked figures. By listening to their tones, I knew one was a man and one was obviously a woman. They were talking quietly, but I managed to catch a few words," Yasu Al paused a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing, "They were saying words like 'raids' and 'murders' and 'rebellion' and 'for the good of our nation'. I was confused, but basically I got the jest of it. They were talking about a raid against the Fire Lord's main house near the outside of the capitol. My mother was helping them; she was giving them advice, telling them secrets about the Lord that even I did not know.

"So you can imagine how I felt; scared. I crawled back to the rose path and ran, despite the headache I had, to my father's office. When I reached the door, I had just enough strength she shutter the doors open before collapsing into my father's arms. You see, he was just about to go visit me, and was surprised that I was out of bed. I told him everything I had heard and understood, and to my surprise he believed me. He said I never lied, and then he stood up and limped out of his office toward the guards' room. By the time they had gotten there, however, the man and woman had vanished and my mother was pacing the garden. She was arrested, and sent to the capitol to have court with the Fire Lord himself present."

She stopped momentarily to glance to her left, looking down a path hidden by brush. Her hands gripped the bow dangerously, her knuckles turning white. Zuko stayed silent, however, watching her. She began walking once more, in the direction she had been looking. He followed. She began speaking once more.

"Emi was hardly fazed by any of this; she was too young. But it hit me a few months later, as I made my way in a carriage toward the Fire Nation Academy for Young Girls. I lived there, at that school, you know? Of course you know; your sister was there while I was. Anyways, a few years of being there changed me. I blamed myself continuously for my mother's arrest and her probable death. When I was thirteen, after a year of searching, I found the Rebellion in which my mother had been a high officer in. I joined, keeping it secret that I was her daughter. I went through a series of tests and classes; they taught me to lie and cheat and steal if need be, they taught me to use a dagger and a bow and a sword. I was good with a bow, and I was soon inducted into their ranks as a full member.

"When I was fourteen, I returned home, finished with me schooling for another year. Father looked terrible; looked nearly dead. He carried a cane with him, his leg had gotten so bad, and his face looked old with wrinkles. He looked beaten, defeated in his own battle. He told me that Emi had run off with a stable boy from an estate near-by, and I told him that she was flirtatious and a bit too out-going, but she would never try to hurt him intentionally. He had ignored me, telling me that I was the last true woman in his life and that I was his life now. I was the only one left that had not betrayed or hurt him…"

Yasu Al stopped in her tracks and stared at the ground, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. "But I did. I did betray him. I joined a rebellion against the Fire Nation, a rebellion that wants to destroy the Fire Lord and all of his little pawns. I was betraying everyone I loved! And for what? For the glory? Of course not! Betrayal is not worth the glory of it. I was doing it for my mother. For myself. I wanted to prove that I could do it." She shuddered slightly. And then she looked back at Zuko with a smirk and said, "I told my father, looked him straight in the eyes and said, 'You can trust me, father.' I lied to him, and that's basically my story."

"If you don't mind me asking," Zuko grumbled, "but how did you die?"

Yasu Al looked Zuko over one two before turning and walking once more, jumping over a fallen log with precise ease.

"Well, I returned to the Rebellion after a few nights at home. I had just wanted to go home to make sure my father was alright, and after lying to him, I couldn't stand to be there. So I left, I went to the Rebellion to return to my rank. A year later, when I was fifteen, I was sent on a mission to keep an eye on a Fire Nation army camp in the middle of the wilderness in the Earth Kingdom. I fell asleep on the job, something I had never done before. I was wearing Earth Kingdom drab, you see. When I awoke and tried to find the soldiers, which had by then moved off, I was captured by a passing Water Tribe army. They captured me; they wouldn't believe me when I said that I was a Fire Nation noble girl trying to escape her nation's hardships. They captured me, and the leader, who was a cruel man, starved me until I told the truth. Stupid Water Tribe peasant!"

Yasu Al spat at the ground, "I got fed up with him, and I stole my arrows and bow back from my guards once they were asleep and shot him three times in the back, killing him. A waterbender saw me and killed me on the spot. By accident, of course," she shrugged, "but that's how, I think. Its hard to truly remember, it was all such a blur. I was so hungry, and wasn't looking."

Zuko was silent, listening to her, taking in her story. "So, you were a noble woman?"

Yasu Al glanced back at him. "Basically, yes, heir to the estate in which I lived."

He nodded, "But you chose to become a rebel against the nation your father worked so hard to protect?"

She glanced back at him a moment before returning her gaze to the path ahead. "That's right."

"…and you weren't feeling any guilt about that?" he asked.

Yasu Al shook her head slowly. "No, I didn't. It just wasn't…it never really appeared to me that I was betraying my full nation. I was just set on living up to my mother's name."

He was silent for a moment; it was an awkward silence, kind of tense. Yasu Al kept on pausing ahead of him, before continuing on walking once more, sometimes when she stopped walking she would tilt her head to the left, kind of looking back behind her as if she was glancing back at Zuko, but her eyes were shut. Zuko followed obediently, listening to the still air around them. He couldn't hear anything; it was absolutely—

"I thought I killed you!" He looked up in surprise just as the sound of an arrow releasing a bow was heard, and there was a loud roar behind him.

* * *

Katara slowly came to consciousness. All her muscles were in pure pain, as if she had slammed into the ground. She felt as if she were soaked to the bone, and when she looked down at what she had been laying in, she sighed heavily. She must have landed in some water; she must have fallen off Appa. She sat on her knees, her elbows resting on her legs with her head in her hands. _Oh, what a headache!_ Finally, as the ache subsided, she lifted her head and looked around, slowly taking everything in. Her eyes got wider and wider as everything came back to her, the town, Zuko, her mother, the old man, and most importantly the snake.

"I thought I was going to die," she whispered, rubbing the back of her head. She slowly began to stand up but she fell back to her knees, her hands gripping the muddy surface under the water. Her knees, her legs, were killing her. If she put weight on them, they shook and made her feel like the world was spinning off its cycle. She shut her eyes. Where was Zuko?

_I'm all alone,_ she realized with a pain, _and I have no idea where I am!_ Her eyes shut tightly as the pain in her head once more fell into a dull pang. She knew she had to be somewhere in the Spirit World, and she had an idea that she was no longer in the veil area. _So perhaps I'm in the Spirit World itself; but how did I get here? And why the hell_ _is Zuko not with me! _She opened her eyes and looked around some, before she began to crawl meagerly toward a large root jutting out of the water. She crawled onto the root, her teeth clenched from the pain it took from her legs. She flipped onto her butt once on the root, and looked around.

She was in the middle of a swamp-like area, and she seemed to be the only one around. The water was a greenish-gray color, and it wasn't very clear and it wasn't very deep, either. Perhaps it went up to her knees at the deepest. She looked at her hands and realized that the mud she had gripped earlier was stuck to her hands, and she wiped them on the bark of the root. The mud was green color, like moss almost. And the water had felt so dense! Almost goop-like, except not. And the sky…Katara looked up but the branches of the trees surrounding her were blocking out the sky. But she could almost guess that there was no sky; not in the Spirit World. The trees…they were so big! The whole area reminded her of the swamp that her friends had traveled to earlier in the month. She sighed. Like then, she was separated from them without a hope of ever going back to them.

And where was Zuko? She snorted; he was definitely not mourning her loss. She was probably the worst thing that had ever happened to him—besides his banishment and the fact that he had a crazy ass sister chasing after him.

She sighed heavily and leaned back against the tree, which the root was connected to. She shut her eyes and let out another breath of air, making a moaning sound. Another sound answered, sort of a grunting sound. Her right eye opened slightly and she looked around without moving her head. Nothing was there, so she shut her eye once more. Soon, a well-deserved sleep overcame her, and she went into unconsciousness.

* * *

Katara's eyes tightened shut in pain to the sudden light that blinded her. She let out a pained moan and fought to pull whatever was covering her over her head. "Ah, so the living has awakened." Katara's eyes swept open and she sat up too quickly, making her head ache terribly. She looked around the small clearing until her eyes met a figure sitting beside a lit fire. The figure slowly stood and came toward her. "You were out for a long time, I was almost certain you were never going to wake up." Her eyes scanned the man's figure. He seemed about in his late twenties, early thirties. He was obviously from the Water Tribes, with tan, tan skin and bright blue eyes. His messy brown hair was pulled into a half-ponytail on top of his head and he wore a blue shirt like Sokka had, with white trimming and blue pants and navy boots. Two spikes, like the points of a sword, connected to a leather strap were wrapped around his upper forearms and he was very muscular.

"…Who are you?" she asked finally, lowering her eyes to the ground and readjusting herself in the sleeping bag so that she was not facing him.

"My name is Ryuu. Like you, I am of the Water Tribes." He crouched down next to her and reached for her arm. Katara, instinctively, flinched back. "Don't worry, you just have a gash on your arm. You're lucky I found you when I did. The spirit gators were circling you, and one got a bite."

"Spirit Gators?" Katara let him gently grab her arm to take a look at the wound.

"Spirit gators; they eat the souls of the living that fall into the spirit world. Its very rare, and there aren't that many of them. So when a living being falls through a portal, the gators come-a-running," he reached behind him and grabbed a piece of white cloth, and he gently wrapped her wound, "My buffalo deer smelled your scent, I guess. I couldn't get him to come along, he kept turning left when we should have been turning right!" Ryuu shook his head slowly. "So I let him lead at last and we came upon a very large group of spirit gators, and that's how I found you."

Katara rolled her shoulder a few times, looking at the wrap around her arm. "Thanks," she murmured, "I guess I owe you."

"Don't say that, just be lucky I found you and not someone—or something—else." He stood slowly and turned to go back to the fire. Katara watched him a moment, before standing and following. She stood awkwardly in front of the fire, looking down at the ground a moment before looking back at him.

"Well, thank you for your help. I should be going; I need to get…somewhere." Somewhere? Where should she go? Katara had no idea where she was heading! She had no plan, no survival tips, nothing.

"You should stay," he said, "your little friend, that firebender, should be along this way shortly."

Katara's eyes widened. "Zuko's here? Where is here, by the way?"

"You're in the Spirit World, you came from a portal in King Snake. And no, your friend is not here yet. He is coming." He said it without emotion.

"Oh," was all Katara said before she plopped herself on a fallen log near the fire, her chin in her hands. For a moment, there was just silence. Finally, just when Katara was getting ready to open her mouth, he got to it before her.

"You a waterbender?"

"…Yes…are y—?"

He interrupted. "Should've known. It explains why I don't like you."

Katara clenched her jaw. _Well, that's nice. A Water Tribesman that doesn't like waterbenders…_ "You don't even know me," she pointed out simply.

"I don't need to. You're a girl, though, and last time I checked girls weren't allowed to learn true waterbending."

Katara smirked proudly. "That's where you are wrong. I fought that stupid rule and now girls are allowed to learn in the North Pole, as well as the South."

Ryuu was quiet a moment, before he said, "You fought it, eh?" She nodded. "Still makes no difference, only reason for me to hate you more." He stood and brushed off his pants, turning to walk away.

Katara's jaw clenched further, if it was possible at all. Her fists were clasped tightly in her lap, her fingernails digging into her skin. "Where are you going?" she said through gritted teeth.

"To see if there is any food that you can eat without getting stuck here forever. I'll be back soon. Ari is here with you." And then he disappeared.

_Who's Ari?_ Katara thought, before the fire in the pit went out completely with a sudden gust of wind, and the cool air turned suddenly very, _very_ warm.


	7. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them.  
**Story Title: **Ghost Town  
**Category: **Romance/Mystery/…  
**Rating: **T for Teen  
**Pairings: **N/A Yet  
**Summary:** Katara gets separated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troops. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?

**A/N:** Eep! Once more, I am so so so sorry it took so long! High School is an ass! It took me forever to get used to the scheduals, and then I had to get passed some boyfriend drama and then there were so many tests! And then I was planning on writing every weekend but I got so caught up in family matters! And then Cold Static kept writing in my planner: 'Update Ghost Town!' And I couldn't! I feel terrible! I'm sorry this isn't long, and I'm sorry we don't get to find out what happens to Zuko.

Gomen, everyone! –Solar Beam

* * *

**Chapter Six:**

Katara's grew. She shut her eyes tightly. Surely that man wouldn't just leave her alone? She couldn't waterbend here! She was completely defenseless. The fire had gone out, and the cool air had turned warm. She slowly turned and opened her eyes, letting out a startled yelp.

There, standing in front of her with its head tilted to the side, stood a very large buffalo deer. She remembered only seeing them in the North Pole, when she had Aang and Sokka had gone to find a waterbending master. Someone had been riding one when they had arrived.

Katara pointed to it with wide eyes. "Ari?" she guessed. The buffalo deer moaned a 'yes' and Katara nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Katara." Yep, she had lost it. She was talking to an animal spirit. Yes, she was definitely scary.

She turned back to the dead fire and sighed. Slowly she picked herself up and got a few pieces of wood and placed them in the pit, before grabbing some flint that was laying beside it. She struck the flint together with precision; having to camp out in the woods every night, she was used to it. The fire started and she blew into the wood to make it grow. With a proud smile, she sat back.

Ari slowly lowered himself behind her and she found herself leaning back against his warm coat. She shut her eyes. "I can't believe I'm in the Spirit World," she said honestly to no one in particular, "And before the Spirit World, I was stuck in a town that got destroyed every night and was reincarnated every morning; people and all. And then I met up with my enemy there and we helped each other out. It sounds strange to me, hearing it like that." She looked up from where she had been intertwining her fingers together and fiddling her thumbs, and looked to the sky that was hidden by the branches.

Her gaze was far-off. "He's just misunderstood, I think. He really isn't that bad. But there's just so much we don't know about him. And Aang, he's generally a very forgiving guy. But there's just…just so much fear in him. No one would believe me if I said that Zuko was not bad at all." She sighed heavily and ran a hand down her face. "But Zuko has always been our enemy. Every time I thought of the enemy, his face would always come up in my mind. Not exactly the scar in general, but his face. No, not his face, per se, but _golden eyes_. Pure, yellow, golden eyes."

She shut her eyes briefly before lowering her head and looking into the flames. "I hope everyone's okay. I hope Sokka isn't making fun of Aang, and I hope Toph isn't starting any trouble. She's been getting better at watching her attitude…I'm proud of her." Her eyes softened. They were her friends, her family. She loved them so much. So very much. "I hope they're all okay. And I hope that man that follows Zuko around is alright, he was hurt recently."

She looked down at her hands. "And I hope Zuko is alright. Despite the fact that he was our enemy and might still be, I hope he's alright." She looked up back at the sky and shut her eyes, wishing to see clouds and sunlight. "Please be safe."

* * *

The ostrich-horse squawked in annoyance at having been awakened early in the morning. The old man with the wounded arm had set up the saddle before the sun had even gotten up! Why were they in such a hurry? And where was the scarred-faced boy who was always traveling with them? Where were they going?

Iroh chuckled at the ostrich-horse's obvious dislike of being awakened so early. He rubbed its beak before turning to the sadly and hefting himself up. They had to reach their destination before it was too late. He guessed he was a good hour or so away.

He had last seen the giant bison fly over head not too long ago, and they were in a rush to catch up. He kicked the beast forward and the bird instantly went into a canter. Iroh narrowed his brown-gold eyes, hurrying the beast forward some more into a strange gallop.

They had been going on like this for at least an hour when he finally slowed to a walk and the sound of people talking loudly caught onto his ears.

"Aang, are you sure you saw Katara walk this way? We've been wandering around for a long time. Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"

"I swear I saw her! It wasn't a dream! Katara!" The monk cupped his hands around his mouth and called out the young waterbender's name.

"Guys…" It was a familiar girl's voice that said this, trying to catch their attention.

"Aang, Katara is a big girl and can take care of herself! She knows where we're going, don't worry about it. She'll catch up to us at the next town."

"If it's not destroyed like the other one! I swear she went toward that town and disappeared! Something just isn't right." The young Avatar had been in a frantic ever since Katara had left.

"Guys…" it was the young earthbender again.

"Of course something isn't right! I've been eating nuts and mint leaves for the past two days! I want real food!" Sokka stomped his foot. "Where's a river when you need it?"

"Aren't you at all worried about Katara?"

"_Guys_!" the girl screamed now, stomping her feet and sending both boys flying into near-by trees. She looked straight ahead, a light smile on her lips as she pointed toward the old man that was standing a bit away with an ostrich horse beside him. "We've got a guest."

Both boys looked at the old man. It took a moment for it to sink in, and then Sokka waved his hands in front of him before grabbing for his boomerang and Aang stood up and then fell back down when Momo jumped him eagerly.

"What do you want?" Sokka asked angrily. He was expecting to see Zuko somewhere close by, because it seemed wherever the old man was, Zuko was sure to follow.

"Where's Zuko?" Aang asked as he stood, mirroring Sokka's thoughts. "Is he somewhere near-by?" There was no fear or anger, just honest curiosity.

"No, I'm afraid he isn't." Aang nodded.

"Aang, we can't trust him!" Sokka said drastically, pointing his boomerang at the old man while he spoke to the Avatar, "He's Fire Nation!"

Toph groaned and stomped her foot on the ground, calling to the earth as she jerked her elbows down against air and then lifted her hands up, the earth forming a rocky tent around Sokka's form. "Ignore Snoozles," she said kindly as she turned blind eyes toward the old man. "How are you doing? Is your shoulder better?"

"You know him?" Aang said in surprise.

"Yes. He gave me very good advice and very good tea once. He can be trusted, don't worry."

"It's doing quite well, actually." Iroh stepped up to them, one hand rubbing his shoulder with a kind smile. "But I came to speak to you about your lost waterbender." Aang's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Iroh quickly raised a hand and frowned, "I do not have her. But my nephew has also gone missing. It seems that they have gotten their selves stuck in the Spirit World."

The sound of Sokka's annoyed, angered, and fearful voice came from within his stony prison. "What?! Katara is stuck with that firebender somewhere! If he lays a hand on my sister—Let me out of here so I can go beat him up!"

"I thought you said he couldn't be trusted?" Toph said sarcastically as she lightly kicked the prison he was in, making it tremble and make him yell in fear inside. The rocky tent did not collapse, but held strong. Toph smirked.

Aang looked down at the ground and then looked up at Iroh with worried gray eyes. "Are you sure? Zuko could have just gotten himself lost…or—"

"No," Iroh said with a brisk nod, "I'm sure. They are definitely together, safely I might add. But that might change if they stay in there for too long. You of all people, young Avatar, know how dangerous the Spirit World may be."

Aang's eyes slowly widened as he thought of the face-stealing spirit he had met last time he had gone into the Spirit World. "Oh no…" he whispered. Then he snapped his fingers. "I'll just go into the Spirit World and bring them back!"

Iroh shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't as simple as that, young Avatar. While you go in spirit and mind and not body, they are stuck in the Spirit World with mind, body, _and_ spirit. I'm afraid they will have to work this out on their own."

"But Katara…is she safe…I mean…will she be okay with…I mean…" Aang didn't want to hurt Iroh's feelings or insult him by asking if Katara will be safe with his nephew.

Iroh seemed to understand this and he smiled slightly. "Zuko is a changing man; I believe she is fine with him. He would never hurt a woman on purpose."

Aang nodded, but didn't seem too convinced. Sokka was yelling something about hurting Zuko when all of this was over, and Toph was leaning up against his make-shift cage, casually picking at her nails. "So…what should we do?" Aang asked softly.

"I suggest pack your things and head back to the abandoned town a few miles back. I believe, if I have my facts right, that that is where they had gotten stuck in the first place," he explained, "I remember tales of a town when I was a bit younger…a tale of how a town was destroyed by the first raid of war. It became cursed, reliving each day the terror and pain it had gotten the morning it was destroyed.

"Each night at sun-down the town rebuilds itself and the people come alive, and every morning it is attacked and destroyed by a Fire Nation raid. It is said that if anyone gets stuck in the town during the rebuilding process, they will be locked in the town forever. It seems that the tale is true after all. They escaped, and Zuko came to me in a ...dream," he lied, not wanting to tell his tale of being locked in the Spirit World himself once more, "and told me that they had escaped together. But they are stuck. I told them to go after the young waterbender and keep her safe until they are able to escape."

It was quiet, and for once, Sokka wasn't speaking. Finally, Sokka knocked on the rock and said, "Toph, please let me out. I won't hurt him." Toph felt the vibrations of Sokka's heart through the ground and nodded; he was telling the truth. She stomped on the ground and pulled her hands down roughly to her side, and the rocks cage fell back into the ground. The only thing causing Sokka's heart to beat fast was the fact that his sister was in possible danger. She smiled sadly to herself. He was such a good big brother.

"Then we should be heading to the town. We won't go near it, though. We'll camp where we did before. A good distance away," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "We don't want to loose anyone else, right, Aang?"

Aang nodded and bowed to the old man. "Would you like to travel with us? You can sit on Appa, and I would be glad to ride your ostrich horse for you. That way you won't lose her means of travel."

Iroh chuckled but nodded. "Thank you, young Avatar. It's nice to see the young people today treat their elders with such respect," he wiped dramatically at his crocodile tears, "It makes an old man so happy."

Aang and Toph chuckled and helped him onto the bison. Sokka crawled onto Appa's head and took the reins. "Hey, why can't I drive sometime?" Toph asked as she leaned forward on the front of the saddle, tipping her head.

"Hmph, I wonder why." Sokka rolled his eyes and snapped the reins. "Appa, yip yip!"

Aang shook his head as he got onto the two-legged beast. He turned it around and kicked it forward. He wasn't very good with other pack animals, so he was a little clumsy. Finally, the bird took the reins and led the boy forward, following the giant bison from intellect.

* * *

"Here, its done cooking." Katara nodded and put out her metal plate, and Ryuu placed the fish onto the plate. Katara had honestly never seen this kind of fish before, but she figured it was just one of those Spirit World things. Her eyes saddened. Were her friends being fed correctly? Were they eating at all?

"Is it not good?" Ryuu asked as he watched her carefully. Her eyes had taken on a far-away look as she looked down at the fish.

Katara looked up brightly. "No, its fine. Thank you!" To show him that it really was good she took a bite and chewed. Since Ryuu had returned, he had been in a much better mood. He looked as if he had talked himself into being nicer to her, probably given himself some discipline.

Katara's eyes widened and looked down at the fish. "Wow, this really is good!" She began eating with more gusto.

Ryuu smirked slightly. "For a girl, you have a big appetite."

Katara looked up, eyes wide before she continued eating, not sure if it was a compliment or supposed to insult her. "Living with a brother with a never-ending appetite does that. You have to eat quickly in order to get food at all; otherwise it's gone by the time you're prepared to eat." She smiled slightly at the thought of Sokka. She hoped he was okay.

Ryuu nodded, but didn't smile. He was like Zuko; he never smiled. Ryuu was quite for a moment, leaning back against a trunk of a tree watching as Katara ate. Ari hadn't moved from her side since he had gotten back, letting her lean up against his warm pelt. Ryuu had always figured Ari to be a well domesticated animal, but never this friendly toward others.

Katara had been busy eating, but now that she was finishing up, her mind led back to the comments Ryuu had made earlier when they had first met. He had hated her. But now he seemed fine. In fact, he seemed more laid back. She glanced back at him and her brow furrowed. She wanted desperately to know why he hated the Water Tribes so much.

"Yes?" Ryuu looked at her with a scowl. She had been looking at him like that for a few moments now; something was bothering her.

Katara started at the sudden annoyance in his voice and then, regaining her composer and her courage, she set her plate aside and leaned forward in her seat. He was sitting across from her, on the other side of the flames. "Why…" she paused uncertainly, and when he propped an eyebrow up curiously she continued, "Why do you hate me so much? Why do you hate waterbending? Why do you not like the Tribes in which you were born?"

Ryuu looked away, his scowl darkening. He knew she'd asked at some point. "It's personal," he grumbled darkly.

Katara looked down and nodded. Maybe she'd never find out. She sighed and set her plate further toward the fire, her eyes sad. "Good night, then." She slowly fell to her side and closed her eyes, snuggling deeper into Ari's fur and falling asleep.


End file.
